Refund Full Fee If Patient Dies, Put Up Doctors’ Credentials and Rate Boards: RPC Chief Meda Srinivas

RAJAHMUNDRY – AP: Doruvu Paul Jagan Babu – Assistant Chief Editor: Rashtriya Praja Congress Founder-President Meda Srinivas on Sunday demanded that the government issue orders making private and corporate hospitals refund the entire amount paid by a patient’s family if the patient dies during treatment, alleging large-scale negligence, fake doctors and commission-driven overbilling.

Addressing the party meeting at the RPC headquarters, presided over by senior secular Dudde Trinadh, Srinivas called for a complete purge of alleged corruption in the District Medical & Health Officer (DM&HO) system.

‘Most private hospital deaths are negligent deaths’

Srinivas alleged that many private and corporate hospitals collect lakhs of rupees in the name of emergency care, deploy underpaid staff with no allopathic qualification in place of qualified doctors, and charge exorbitant fees.

He claimed that due to inexperience and lack of qualification, patients die even for minor ailments, while the official machinery remains indifferent. A large percentage of deaths in private hospitals should be treated as negligent killings, he alleged.

He also said that even after death, bodies are released only after payment of dues, which is inhuman. The government should identify such exploitative practices and order refund of fees to the family in case of death, he demanded.

Demand for display voards on doctors and test rates

The RPC chief demanded that every private and corporate hospital must prominently display a large board with full names, qualifications and mobile numbers of qualified doctors actually working there.

Alleging that some hospitals employ doctors with fake certificates and that doctors whose names are displayed on big boards are never found on duty, he said patients have a right to know who is treating them.

He further demanded mandatory display of a price list board for all lab tests and scans.

‘Commission nexus inflates treatment cost tenfold’

Srinivas alleged a nexus between hospitals, diagnostic centres, scanning centres and medical shops. Tests done at one hospital are not accepted at another, forcing patients to repeat expensive tests, and patients are compelled to buy medicines and get tests done only at centres suggested by the treating doctors.

If prescriptions or tests are taken elsewhere, the cost of a Rs.10,000-treatable illness goes up to Rs.1 lakh, with doctors prolonging treatment unnecessarily, he alleged. The same test or scan is charged differently at different centres, leading to loot. Uniform pricing for tests and scans must be enforced through public display boards, he said.

He lamented that 80% of a common man’s earnings is now being spent on hospitals, labs and pharmacies.

Call for public committees to monitor hospitals

Alleging that DM&HO establishments at district level have become “corruption slaves” of private hospital managements, certifying compliance even when norms are violated, Srinivas said staff from lower to higher level take one salary from government and double from hospital managements.

To check overcharging in tests, scans and medicines and to bring reforms in functioning of private and corporate hospitals, the government should officially constitute public committees, he demanded.

Party seculars Lanka Durga Prasad, Vardhanapu Sarath Kumar, Doshi Nishanth, Gudla Sai Durga Prasad, Challa Sambasiva Rao, Basa Sonia, Kandivalasa Ramana, Mattaparthi Tulasi, Pandiri Mahesh, Tripurala Pandavulu, Adapa Seshagiri, Kallakuri Ravi Kumar, Dabbi Ratna Kumar and others attended.